A woman serves coffee to ice-covered firefighters battling a blaze at the Highland Village shopping center in St. Paul on Feb. 20, 1941. Completed only 18 months earlier, the shopping center caught fire early that morning. Crews battled the flames in freezing temperatures for 11 hours. One firefighter, 54-year-old James Seery, was killed. You can view a gallery of previous Throwback Thursday photos at TwinCities.com/throwback. Pioneer Press